Ayu, Walid Jibrin know fate as PDP holds NEC meeting today

• Wike, Anyim absent as Atiku meets presidential aspirants
• Atiku best candidate to rescue Nigeria — Namadi Sambo

The fates of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyorchia Ayu, and the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, will be determined at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party today, Daily Trust reports.

The meeting, Daily Trust gathered, was convened to address the lingering crisis rocking the party since the selection of the Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as the running mate of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The camp of the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, is insisting that the party’s national chairman must be replaced to balance the equation in the party.

Aside from the issue of Ayu and Walid Jibrin, the meeting will also discuss the constitution of the campaign council.

A source told our correspondent that the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting that was convened to discuss some of the issues ahead of the NEC, ended abruptly as some of the members worked out against Ayu.

Daily Trust reliably gathered that about 15 members of the NWC held a meeting Tuesday night and agreed that Ayu should resign honourably to allow the party to move forward.

It was gathered that the meeting of the PDP NWC, ran into trouble after Ayu tried to get the buy-in of the NWC to quash the agitation for his resignation.

Following their outburst, many of the NWC members, numbering about 15, were said to have left the meeting while Ayu was still presiding in what looked like a pre-planned action by some of the members.

Reacting to the situation, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, however, told journalists that nothing of the sort took place at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Wike, Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel and former Senate President Pius Anyim were absent on Wednesday when Atiku met with presidential aspirants of the party from the south in Abuja.

Atiku, at the meeting, commended those in attendance for accepting the outcome of the convention that produced him as the PDP standard bearer.

He promised to work with all of them ahead of the 2023 general elections, adding that they have various roles to play in his victory at the polls.

Also, yesterday, former vice president, Architect Mohammed Namadi Sambo, said the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, is the best candidate to fix the present challenges facing the country.

Sambo, who was represented by Alhaji Rabi’u Bako stated this at the inauguration of the local government chairmen and secretaries of the National Mandate Group (NMG) Kaduna State chapter yesterday. He said the country’s situation needed prayers and contributions of everyone to ensure that the situation was changed completely for a better Nigeria.

By Baba Martins (Abuja) & Maryam Ahmadu-Suka (Kaduna)